


The Five Times Foggy Nelson was an Actual Ray of Sunshine (plus that one time he tried to be an asshole but failed)

by marvelousshipper



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: 5+1, Crack, Crack?, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Fluff, I love him, Oh also, bad attempts at humor, foggy is such a bae, he is my beautiful son, lots and lots of it, no sad, only sunshine, too much if we're being honest, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 19:33:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4150164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marvelousshipper/pseuds/marvelousshipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of stories featuring Foggy being a blessing upon this Earth</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Five Times Foggy Nelson was an Actual Ray of Sunshine (plus that one time he tried to be an asshole but failed)

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of stupid headcanons about Foggy, all right? It's not my fault that in a world of grit and agnst and poor lighting that they gave me a character that has little plastic dinosaurs at his office and can't speak Spanish for shit. 
> 
> Also I keep trying to write serious and painful fics for this show and trashy fluff keeps coming out but whatever the fandom needs more trashy fluff anyway

1.  
Sometimes Karen and Matt got stuck in their own little worlds. Sometimes those worlds could get pretty damn dark, even if they never said anything about it.Sometimes they needed to be pulled out from those dark places. Luckily, they had Foggy Nelson, official office ray of sunshine, to lighten things up. 

The office had been quiet today. Too quiet. Not only because they didn't exactly have a flood of clients swarming their doors, but Karen and Matt had been irritatingly silent. So on his way back from his lunch, a wicked (wickedly _brilliant_ ) thought crossed his mind. He did his best to suppress his laughter, to look up what he needed on his phone as subtly as he could, and attempted to walk with the most even, unexcited pace possible as he approached the Nelson & Murdock office doors. 

Then, with a bit of flair and a flip of his wrist, he pushed open the doors, pressed play on his (surprisingly loud) phone, and emphatically declared, “ SSSS- AAAA- FFFF- EEEE-TTTT-YYYY SAFETY DANCE.”

Karen and Matt both gave him stunned looks, but, fuck it, they didn't have clients, he didn't have to act like a professional. Foggy enthusiastically started to do the robot before pointing at Matt and, from the very depths of his soul, singing, “We can dance if we want to! WE CAN LEAVE YOUR FRIENDS BEHIND! 'CAUSE YOUR FRIENDS DON'T DANCE AND IF THEY DON'T DANCE WELL THEY'RE NO FRIENDS OF MINE.”

Turning on his heels, he then pointed to Karen, and pretend microphone in hand, continued on with, "I SAY, WE CAN GO WHERE WE WANT TO, A PLACE THEY WILL NEVER FIND, AND WE CAN ACT LIKE WE CAME FROM OUT OF THIS WORLD, LEAVE THE REAL ONE FAR BEHIND.” 

At this point, he had gotten the two gloomy Guses of his office to actually start laughing, a sound that validated his decision far more than it should have. By the time he sang “AND WE CAN DANCE,” he had managed to rope his friends into an office wide (office wide being a whole three people) dance party, all of them collapsing into a heap of giggles and breathlessness at the end of the song. 

After that, it became somewhat of a habit. When there were no clients around and the atmosphere of the office had just become a little too heavy, Foggy Nelson was there to save the day. He kicked open the office doors, requested coffees in hand as he called out, “COME ON AND SLAM, WELCOME TO THE JAM.”

While stuck on a particularly rough case, Matt had said something along the lines of “We can work through this,” which was more than enough for Foggy to burst out, “Well we can work, work, wORK THIS OUT, WE'LL BE ALL RIGHT, THE SUN WILL SHINE,” with Karen quickly joining in and graciously singing all the female parts. 

For some reason, the Ghostbusters theme once seemed like the appropriate song to jam out to, but instead of saying “ghostbusters”, it was incredibly amusing for them to all shout “THE AVENGERS!” in response to “who ya gonna call?”. The running joke made it rather difficult for Matt to keep a straight face when none other than _Captain Motherfucking America_ told him that if he ever needed help, just to call them. 

Now, let's be real, Foggy wasn't naïve, and he certainly wasn't idiot. He knew a few impromptu dance parties here and there weren't going to fix years of issues. However, goofy songs and even goofier dance moves done to their fullest and with plenty of heart never failed to make his friends faces light up, and honestly, he would take what he could get. He got them to relax and have some fun _without_ any tequila, which was goddamn impressive, thank you very much. Remember kids, even if you're a vigilante lawyer and a secretary with a dark past, you can have a good time without alcohol.

2.  
Foggy was at a point were he was actually pretty okay with Matt's freaky superpowers thing. But being okay with them and not having any questions about them were two _very_ different things. Of course, because he rather enjoyed being an asshole to Matt, he decided that rather than just asking whether or not Matt could do shit, he was going to test him. And ho boy, was that going to be fun.

That was how he wound up calling Karen at three am on a whim. She must have already been awake, because she didn't sound all that annoyed or sleepy when he said, “So, hey, I've got an idea, but I would need your full cooperation.”

An hour later, they were doing their best to sneak into the office with bags of something without looking completely suspicious. The fact that it was four am and they had gone the extra mile and decided to wear ski masks/black outfits to complete the look didn't help. The fact that they were giggling constantly and repeatedly failing to shush each other make them look a lot less like robbers and a lot more like drunken idiots. Surprisingly, they were actually sober, just very, very sleep deprived and very, very giddy. 

At 8 am, even though Matt was usually the first one to arrive, Karen and Foggy were waiting expectantly for him. Too expectant. Matt tensed up and shot a suspicious glare in their direction as he accusingly asked, “What did you two do?”

Foggy and Karen wore shit-eating grins that Matt may not be able to see but could sure as hell sense as Foggy said, “Nothing, not a goddamn thing. Right, Karen?”

“Absolutely right Foggy. Plus, Matt, isn't there something in law about being innocent until proven guilty?”

Matt's expression fell into a resting bitch-face as he said, “In this case, guilt has been proven multiple times.”

Foggy, the bastard, had the nerve to let smugness drip into his voice as he replied with, “Guilt in the current case can't be assumed on a basis of past crimes, everyone knows that.”

Deciding that he would get absolutely _nowhere_ with questioning the two children he happened to be stuck in a law office with, Matt did his best to use his senses to discern what exactly his cohorts did.  
The faint scent of cheap adhesive permeated the office, and a rustling sound indicated that the previously empty trash cans were now about halfway full, but Matt couldn't quite place what had occurred between six pm last night and eight am this morning. 

Considering how much he _wasn't_ in the mood to interrogate his two (previous) friends, he let out a sigh and dropped the issue by saying, “Well then, since you two are so _obviously_ innocent, why don't we start on our caseload for the day?”

That comment was enough for the actual, ya know, work part of work to start, and the three of them got engaged in their tasks. After about half an hour or so, whatever shenanigans Karen and Foggy had gotten up to were long forgotten. 

Forgotten, at least until a client come in. A young woman, attempting to clear false robbery charges. Approaching the office, her heart rate had suggested nervousness, but once she actually stepped inside, the nerves changed to amusement and she let out a sharp, if just the slightest bit hysterical, laugh. 

Yeah, Karen and Foggy had definitely pulled some shit. The woman (Megan) was giggling throughout her entire conversation with Matt, despite the fact that they were actually describing some pretty intense subjects. He knew that he wasn't wearing one of his odd novelty ties (more on that later), so if Matt wasn't a goddamn professional, he would have shot daggers at Karen and Foggy. Megan eventually paused and said, “I'm sorry, but I just can't ignore this anymore. Mr. Murdock, did you happen to have any young children by the office recently?”

Just what the hell _did_ those two do? A perturbed expression fixed on his face, Matt responded with, “No? Why do you ask?”

“Well, it's just that-”

Her attention was caught by something over in the other room. Through the window, Karen and Foggy were frantically waving their hands across their throats in the universal “shut up!” gesture as Foggy repeatedly mouthed, “Don't tell him!" Megan, being a total champ, continued with, “I dunno, I just got this vibe, you know?”

 _Lie._ And not a particularly good one either, Matt didn't even need to hear her heartbeat to know that one. Foggy did a victory fist pump, and Karen shot her an enthusiastic thumbs up, which Megan mirrored back. Since retaining his composure was going to get him absolutely nowhere, Matt dropped some of his stoicism to lean in conspiratorial and say, “Ms. Salvador, if you're willing to tell me what exactly my, ah, business partners did, I will personally take your case entirely pro bono.”

Foggy then burst into room, scrambling to the woman before quickly regaining his dignity and saying, “Megan, you say nothing to Matty here about the current, uh, situation in the office, and not only will we take the case for free, our beautiful butterfly Karen and I will take you out to lunch wherever you like.”

A large smirk grew across Megan's features as she said, “I'm sorry Mr. Murdock, but it appears I've been given a better offer.”

That's it. That's all it took for Matt to entirely drop the air of professionalism and give Foggy the most disparaged, pathetic, “help me I'm just a poor blind guy” look he could muster. Karen walked in an said, “Oh man, Foggy, we gotta tell him. He looks like a kicked puppy.”

Yes, yes, he could break her. Maybe just the slightest bit of sniffle, and the truth would come out. Or it would've, if Foggy hadn't been around. The man held his hand up to signal a halt as he said, “Karen, I know that look. It seems real bad, but he only has that look when he's down with the flu or he wants something. That's his look he uses to break people, and the smug bastard _knows_ it.”

Dammit. That usually works. Well, works on everyone that isn't Foggy. (It used to work, but after some, what, thirteen, fourteen years of friendship the man picked up on some things. {even now, if Foggy's feeling sympathetic enough, the “wounded animal” look will work.})  
His senses told him nothing, his friends told him nothing, not even his client, which they usually had _full disclosure_ with, would say a word. 

It wasn't until a solid two _months_ later that he finally figured out what the hell they had done to the office. Actually, the incident was long forgotten by the time he figured it out, and it was mostly by accident that he ever did. A stumble had made him lean against the wall for support. His fingers ended up brushing up against something unknown, something much smoother than the surrounding paint. With a hint of confusion, he began to feel it more carefully, trying to determine the shape. As he felt out the shape of a large head, skinny arms, and a long tail, flashbacks from some of the picture books he had been enamored with pre-accident provided him with the information he needed.

“FOGGY!” 

Quick footsteps made their way to the room, and a slightly (but just slightly) panicked voice called, “Matt what's up? Everything alright?”

“Why, exactly, is there a t-Rex sticker on the wall of our law offices?”

There was a deathly silence that hung in the air for a few moments before thunderous laughter emulated from Foggy. Matt did his best to look pissed off (he failed miserably) as his best friend doubled over, having to gasp for air as he clutched his sides. 

“Oh...oh my god.... it took you...two months... to finally notice.”

Matt crossed his arms and glared at Foggy as the man continued to laugh in lieu of any further explanation. He was Daredevil, dammit, he could be intimidating if he wanted to. 

“ _Explain_.”

Foggy stood upright once more, wiped away a tear, and finally tampered down on the last of his laughs. 

“Alright, so, you know how Karen and I pulled some shit a while ago and we never told you exactly what we did?”

Through a clenched jaw, Matt gritted out, “ _Yes_ ,” his patience wearing thin at an alarmingly speedy rate.

“Well, what we did was come in at four am and cover the offices in about, I dunno, four hundred dinosaur stickers. We've had T-rexes and stegosauruses and triceratops and various other kinds all over the walls and desks and chairs ever since.”

“Wait, all of them have been up for the past two months? _That's_ why people keep asking us if we have small children around?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Matt pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as he replied, “Dare I ask why?”

Foggy gave a shrug before saying, “I just shrugged. Anyway, I did it to test how finely tuned your freaky superpowers -”

“They're still not superpowers.”

“Your freaky _superpowers_ were, a test you spectacularly failed, by the way, and Karen did it because she was sleep deprived and thought it would be hilarious, which it was, and as a bonus, the clients like them.”

“Foggy, we're supposed to be a serious law firm.”

“Well, I think you're being a serious downer. Besides, I already told you, the clients like the stickers. Well, the clients _I_ like like the stickers. They make us seem less like soulless greedy money mongers, more like real people who have a sense of humor and wanna help out. The clients that object and get all huffy about it tend to be assholes anyway.”

Matt wanted to argue, but after a few minutes of back and forth, he finally conceded despite the fact that he had actually quite adept debate skills. Then again, so did Foggy, and the man won this round. 

And that's the story of how, at least until they got a better office or real employees, the dinosaur stickers were stuck in the offices of Nelson & Murdock. 

(Bonus story time: ever since that incident, Foggy had continued to experiment with just what exactly he could get away with. This experimentation mostly extended to Matt's first aid kit. See, Foggy spent enough time patching his best friend up that not only did he have complete access to the kit, he felt he also had the right to have a little fun with it. With Claire's assistance and compliance, he had slowly replaced all the plain ol' boring white medical wrap with brightly colored and patterned ones. When Matt finally figured this out and asked him about it, Foggy responded with something along the lines of “I'd rather have you look like you're on your way to Pride than like you just got back from a fight with a semi-truck.” Matt, bandaged in a plethora of colors, did indeed look like he was on his way to Pride.  
The other thing he did because Foggy was truly, honestly, the most mature person in the world, was swap out all the standard band-aids Matt owned with Disney and Scooby-Do ones. While Matt had noted a texture difference, he didn't exactly pick up on what the change truly was. {“Did you buy a different brand?” “Yeah, I figured you could use the one's with Neosporin already in it, considering you take about zero actual recuperation time.”} It wasn't technically a lie, the new ones did have Neosporin in them, so Matt didn't sense anything being out of order. Truly, it was a shame that Matt was blind, because the look on the judge's face when he saw this eloquently speaking, unassuming lawyer wearing a band-aid that had a picture of Scooby with a speech bubble that said “Ruh-roh!” over his forehead wound was fucking _priceless_. That moment was a warm memory that got Foggy through the rough, cold winters of New York.)

3.  
Foggy had this _thing_ about nicknames. Whether it was because he went by one himself or because it something he had learned as a kid, no one was certain. What they were certain of, however, is that he was _constantly_ using them. He didn't stop with the generic ones like dude, bro, man, or buddy. He didn't stop with the basic name ones like Matty or Kar. Hell, he didn't even stop with “insulting” terms of endearment like idiot, dweeb, or dork. Nope, when Foggy used nicknames, he had to go above and beyond. At any given time, he was saying things like, “Matt, you sweet, precious cinnamon roll, we can't _not_ take this case” or “Karen, you honey-haired honey, where would you like to go to lunch?” Sometimes he would just pop his head into the office and call out, “Yo, human embodiment of a rainbow and handsome duckling, we gotta go.”  
He didn't even stop when they were court, because his filtering system was virtually nonexistent. There was a particularly embarrassing moment where he had called Matt “My partner, Mr. Evel Knievel wannabe” to the judge. (It took Matt a moment to realize what he meant. Evel Knievel. A daredevil. Hilarious.) Don't misread it though, Foggy was a kick-ass lawyer. He was just terrible at professionalism. Being serious and mature was Matt's job. 

The thing was, the nicknames and compliments and terms of endearment didn't stop with Matt and Karen. If Foggy felt a fondness towards you, you were given a new loving title. Even clients. Bess was “Bess, the immortal beauty”. Ben had been “Ben, the sharp-minded spectacular.” Elena had been “Elena, mi corazón de azúcar.” Foggy handed out compliments and nicknames like it cost him nothing, and maybe for people like Foggy, it didn't.

Occasionally, it got him into trouble, such as during the court incident mentioned above, or when people thought he was hitting on them and took offense to it. Overall, however, he enjoyed giving affectionate monikers to people. Once, Karen had questioned him on the practice after he had called her a “beautiful land mermaid”. With eyebrows furrowed and a hesitant smile on her lips, she asked in a fond rather than accusatory tone, “Why do you always do that?”

“Do what?”

“Compliment people. Give them flattering titles. I mean, you do it _all the time_. And to everyone. Anywhere I go with you, you're complimenting cashiers and butchers and clients and neighbors. Why?”

The man's response consisted of a shrug, a quiet smile, and saying, “Well, why not? Honestly, nine times out of ten the small show of affection brings a smile to people's faces. The deterrents are so minor, that I don't really have a reason not to, you know?”

Karen's hesitant smile became full blown, and she made a quick mental note to start paying more attention to when Foggy gave out the nicknames. And wow, he was correct, they always seemed to make people smile, herself included. Hell, she was pretty sure that that fleeting interaction made some people's entire days. Apparently all it took was a few words from Foggy Nelson to make Hell's Kitchen just a little bit brighter.

4.  
It had just sort of happened. Lost in his own thoughts, Foggy had rather absentmindedly tossed a case file at Matt as he went about his own things. Matt had caught the file effortlessly, which in of itself was enough to make Foggy stop in his tracks. His shoulders stiffened, and he turned to stare at Matt. He squinted his eyes in suspicion and curiosity and if he looked closely enough... yep, there it was, the barest hint of a smirk on Matt's lip. Smug bastard. 

The questioning look still plastered on his face, he minutely leaned back, cautiously slipping a pen off of Matt's desk before tossing right back at Matt. He intentionally threw it a little more to Matt's right than strictly necessary, just to make sure it couldn't possibly be an accidental catch like the file may have been. Matt caught it with a practiced ease and some real nice reflexes. Goddammit, the smirk on Murdock's face grew to downright conceited. If the excitement in Foggy wasn't growing, he's pretty sure he would've been rather annoyed. 

Foggy tossed one last thing at Matt, an eraser that was aimed over his head, which, once more, Matt caught like it was second nature. At this point, it definitely wasn't just a lucky break, and Foggy began to bounce on the balls of his feet with excitement. A huge grin broke out on Foggy's features, and the man couldn't tamper down his enthusiasm as he exclaimed, “Dude! I can throw things at you!”

Matt gave that endearing little head tilt half smile combo that he always wore whenever Foggy was being confusingly exuberant. Foggy dubbed it his “Maverick and Goose” smile. 

“I'm glad that's such a wonderful concept to you.”

Enthusiasm continuing to be unbridled, Foggy continued to vibrate slightly as he said, “Matty, you don't understand, I have wanted nothing more than to play catch with you for over a decade and _now I can._ ”

Delightedly, Foggy removed a baseball from his pocket and tossed it at Matt, who casually caught it and tossed it back. 

“Bro, _yes_. I told you we could totally start an office softball team! Let's do it!”

They continued to play catch as they chatted, Matt responding with a bit of a laugh as he said, “Foggy, it will still be a bit suspicious if a blind man was acting as pitcher.”

Foggy gave an eye roll that, yes, he realized was pointless, but happily continued on with, “Whatever dude. We could always just pretend that you're your totally for realsies and totally not bullshit identical twin brother 'Mike' who can one hundred percent see.”

“That was _one time_ , are you still bitter about it?”

“No way man, not bitter. Just _still_ shocked it _worked_. How the hell did you pull that off Murdock?”

“Well, I'm told I can be very, ah, _persuasive_. Probably why I became a lawyer.”

“Literally your middle name is Micheal. 'Mike'. Jesus Christ you're not even clever. Still, softball team, let's do it.”

“Language, Foggy. And even if I could pull off the whole 'identical twin brother' bit again, three people hardly count as a team.”

“Exactly why we need to bring in new clients so that we can afford to hire more people and then begin the glorious days of 'Nelson & Murdock, Batters-at-Plate'.”

“You really want a softball team, don't you?”

“They're the ultimate show of success, Matty.”

Sometime in their discussion, Foggy had gotten distracted and let the baseball loudly hit a filing cabinet instead of catching it. He quickly recovered and tossed the ball back towards Matt, but not before Karen popped in with a confused, “What are you two doing in here?”

They both turned to her in surprise, and considering he had a lie to uphold, Matt allowed the ball to smack him right in the kisser, which Foggy would've found hilarious if it weren't for Karen giving him an incredibly accusatory stare. Foggy, who unlike a certain masked vigilante/lawyer, was just terrible at anything more severe than a white lie. Stammering slightly, he rather intelligently went, “Uhhhh......Matt. What were we doing?”

“Playing catch.”

The bastard went for the truth, in turn making Foggy look like an asshole who throws things at blind people. Thanks a lot, Murdick. But don't ever say that Franklin Nelson wasn't a master of regaining his composure (even if he usually kind of wasn't), because he dropped the deer in the headlights look in favor of a shrug and self-deprecating smile as he replied, “Hey, if this guy's gonna gonna be our pitcher, we had to practice sometime.”

Nailed it. 

5.  
Foggy Nelson liked to take care of people. It was an intrinsic part of his personality. He pretty much couldn't turn it off, even when he tried. (Read: that one time his best friend was being a total dickhead and lied to him for over a decade) And if Mama Nelson taught him anything, it was that one of the best ways to take care of someone was to feed them. (Now that he thought about it, he actually totally could see himself as a butcher. Maybe a little less justice and heroism, and a little more friendly banter and cold cuts, which, hey, didn't sound too bad. Don't tell his mom though, she doesn't need that kind of encouragement. But yeah, if this whole lawyer thing doesn't work out, at least he has a back up.) And feed them he did. Okay, so, yeah, maybe he could be a bit neglectful of his own health and good eating habits (“You can't eat just gummy worms for breakfast, Foggy.” “I have a very stressful job and an even more stressful friendship, so I will eat however I damn well please, _Murdock!_ ”), but damn if he didn't make sure his friends were eating properly. 

If you asked Matt, the man would say that he hadn't bought his own groceries in the past fourteen years. If you asked Foggy, he would say this was an exaggeration, because there was like a month in college where Matt had straight up banned him from grocery shopping ever again. (This was due to the fact that Matt had sent him to go get milk, to which Foggy came home with two bags of discount chocolate, a box of chicken nuggets, some cookie cutters shaped like various sea animals {“Foggy we don't even make cookies” “Okay but we can have whale-shaped quesadillas and that's very important to me.”}, a balloon, and absolutely no milk.) He's pretty sure it would have actually been a lifetime ban if Matt didn't hate grocery shopping with a fiery passion. It's actually kind of amazing that Matt had even held out a month, but that boy was nothing if not stubborn. 

But yeah, Matt's cupboards and pantries and fridge were pretty much always one meal away from empty, so Foggy was the one to restock. Because he's such a fantastic friend, he tends to go above and beyond Matt's basic requirements and actually get the man some treats. (“Foggy, I don't need homemade raspberry chocolate ice cream.” “I know that, but you always get this dopey little smile on your face and hum happily when you have some, so I can't just not buy it.”) This is (supposedly) much to Matt's dismay, because the guy is seriously a health nut, it's kind of ridiculous, but Foggy knows he secretly enjoys it. 

Karen's pretty bad at buying food for herself as well. Not quite as bad as Matt, but it didn't take super senses to hear her stomach growling about once every two weeks, to which Foggy promptly responded to by shoving the extra panini he knew he needed to pick up into her hands and commanding “Eat”. She always rolled her eyes and said, “All right, all right, _Mom_ ,” but judging by how ravenously she tore into it, he knew the gesture was appreciated. Once she got a new apartment and was actually comfortable inviting people to it, Foggy almost always came over with armfuls of food. She repeatedly told him that he was being ridiculous, that she could shop for herself, but he didn't listen.

And he didn't stop at bringing over ingredients. Oh no, Foggy always went above and beyond the line of duty. Although he didn't like to brag, he was actually a pretty damn fine cook. He rarely cooked for himself, because, yes, cold Chinese food actually was sufficient for him, thanks, but he loved loved _loved_ to cook for his friends. At least once a week he was bringing over casseroles or brownies (None of that box shit either. Only the finest for Mr. Murdock and Ms. Page.) or Mac 'n Cheese with homemade noodles and about twelve different cheeses. He would bring over Tupperware with both braille and handwritten labels (Oh man, he had gone completely overboard when he had first gotten that braille labeler. Seriously. He had stuck one that said “Matt” on Matt's forehead, because, hey, what if the guy had an identity crisis. Other things that were labeled that were pretty damn obvious: Bed, Couch, Stairs, and Karen. Even now, when he was mad at Matt, but not actually mad, he would label him with things like “idiot” or “Warning: Little Shit”.) for his friends convenience, because he was nice like that. 

If he was being perfectly honest, this habit of his was just a continuation of Nelson family tradition. Holidays were the worst, and by the worst he meant the best, because no one eats as much as they do during Christmas day. While Matt had miraculously avoided the Freshman Fifteen, even he, master of self-discipline, succumbed to what Foggy lovingly called the Nelson Nine (it was actually closer to eleven, but, shhh, no one needed to know that. Plus, that wasn't alliterative, so, you know.) when he came to visit for the couple of weeks surrounding Christmas. Karen had as well, when she foolishly came by for Thanksgiving week. Yes, it was a week in Foggy's household, and it was awesome. Anna, being the spectacular mother she is, had not only taught him one of the best ways to take care of people, but _how_ to do it as well. And judging by the looks of absolute pleasure that Karen and Matt had when they indulged in Foggy's meals, well, Ma Nelson had done a spectacular job.

(The first year that Foggy brought Matt home for Christmas, she lightly nudged him as she tried to teach him, “You know, the best way to a man's heart _is_ through his stomach.” Foggy, at the time, had rolled his eyes and replied, “Mom, please, I'm not going to try and seduce Matt with sugar cookies.” He didn't account on the fact that Matt would be able to hear him, which frankly, was an abuse of his powers that Foggy wasn't aware of at the time, and he waltzed right into the kitchen. Leaning on the door frame, happily munching on one of those said sugar cookies, the bastard said, “Too bad. If yours are half as good as your mom's, it would probably work.” Foggy intelligently responded by turning three shades redder and stammering, to which Matt winked, spun away, and continued to eat his damn cookie.) 

 

+1 (Aka The Tie Incident)

Well the title is kind of a misnomer. Incident implies that it only happened once, when really, it was pretty much an ongoing thing. However, there was a specific instance that had kick-started the now, holy crap, _fourteen_ year long tradition.

See after a while (okay so like a week but whatever), Matt and Foggy became Matt&Foggy, a practically inseparable unit (unless something really extreme happened, like one of them harboring a life changing secret that would irrevocably alter the nature of their relationship, but come on, what were the chances of that?). However, that being said, they were still their own people, and they didn't do everything together. Hell, sometimes they even took separate vacations once and a while. Not that many, because 95% of Foggy's trips were to go see his family, and since they basically adopted Matt within 3.0 seconds of meeting him, Matt came along as well. (Violence was threatened upon Foggy if he didn't drag Matt's sorry ass to Easter and Thanksgiving and Halloween and even Labor Day that one time.)

One of those times in the 5% where Foggy took a real vacation was during their freshman year. He had decided that he wanted the “true college experience” and was stereotypically going to Cancun for spring break. He (obviously) invited Matt along, but the man just wasn't down for that kind of thing. After making sure that Matt was properly fussed over by stuffing their shared mini-fridge with far more food than was necessary for a week and ensuring that someone would check in on him at least once a day (“I don't need a caretaker Foggy.” “Bullshit, you helpless egg. Do you know how many times I've found you in the library dehydrated and passed out? You're gonna study yourself to death, man.”), Foggy's conscience allowed him to head out. 

If you asked Foggy about that trip, he would happily tell you that he could remember exactly three things about it. He would tell you that one: he had a blast, two: he was undeniably, irrefutably plastered the entire time, and three: he could describe in surprisingly vivid detail a little corner of the island gift shop. For even though it was a place that he had stumbled into entirely on a whim, it was also the location where he had his stroke of genius. Absentmindedly, he wandered through the ranks of tacky plastic presents until he came upon it: the most beautifully atrocious ten dollar tie that he had ever seen. This thing was gloriously hideous, resplendent in obnoxious 80's neon colors, with embroidered palm trees, cheaply painted seagulls, and tacky lettering that repeatedly said “At the beach!”. It was borderline physically repulsive. 

It was _perfect_.

See, somewhere in Foggy's alcohol-addled mind, the thought of his polite, mild-mannered (very intentional word choice here) blind friend wearing this abominably colorful tie was just so fuckin' funny, that he had to _immediately_ purchase the item. When he got back to campus and was actually sober once again, the thought still seemed hilarious because, let's be real, this was _Matt_ we were talking about. If Foggy wore the tie, no one would bat an eye, but with Matt, most people would assume that he had been possessed before believing he willingly wore such a “look at me!” piece of clothing, even if the man in question couldn't actually see how ridiculous it was. So with a causal, “Yo, Matt, I got you something,” he tossed the small box with a rolled up tie within at Matt. It lightly bounced off of Matt's chest, before politely landing in Matt's lap.

Oh fuck. Matt was giving him such a such a look of surprised and earnest gratefulness that he immediately felt like an asshole for trying to pull a little prank on the guy. With far too much fondness in his voice, Matt softly said, “Thank you, Foggy.”

Abort, abort. Mission Abort.

“No, dude, seriously, it's a stupid gift, don't even mention-”

But Matt was promptly removing the tie from box and running his fingers up and down it, and he got this little smile on his face, and fuck Foggy was a terrible friend, and felt even worse when Matt replied , “It's great Fogs. I think I'll wear it tomorrow.”

And that sent Foggy into full blown panic mode, because Matt actually had an important presentation tomorrow, and Foggy did _not_ mean for it to go that far. (He now knew that Matt was perfectly aware of the palm trees, and was just willing to let Foggy squirm, the absolute _bastard_.) But Matt insisted, and Foggy never quite got around to describing how terrible the tie really was, and that's how he found himself watching as Matt strolled into their 10 o'clock class, fully ready to give an impassioned speech about the right to privacy in the modern age, while his neck proudly proclaimed “At the beach!”

The teacher (who happened to be a total hardass and had accused Foggy of _plagiarizing_ at one point) huffed and gave Matt a frankly pointless offended look as he said, “Mr. Murdock, I expect a certain level of professionalism when my students are presenting.”

Matt, being a surprisingly good actor, tilted his head and was the poster picture of innocence as he asked, “I'm sorry?”

“Your tie, Mr. Murdock.”

Thankfully, instead of turning on Foggy, Matt continued to play the part of “totally confused blind guy” until the teacher unhappily dropped the subject and let Matt do his speech. The class went pretty standardly after that, but back out in the hallway, Matt wore a smirk a mile wide, which told Foggy everything he needed to know. 

“You little shit, you _knew_ , didn't you?”

Matt's smirk grew wider at that, giving a slight shrug and saying, “The material was cheap and you brought back from Cancun, it was fair assumption that it wasn't a serious gift.”

“Asshole, you absolute asshole. You let me feel like a total dickwad! And, by the way, you've really nailed the whole “innocent and unassuming” act. The teachers face, oh my god, it was _hilarious_ buddy, he was so frustrated.”

“It's not always an act.”

“My ass. You, Murdock, are a devil and you're fully aware of it.”

Matt's smile became softer at that, his eyes crinkling as if Foggy had just said something incredibly amusing. Then the mischievous glint returned as he asked, “Describe the tie?”

With that, Foggy happily slung an arm around Matt's shoulders and launched into a five minute long soliloquy on the hideousness of this particular piece of clothing that had both men in tears at the end of it.

After that, it kind of just became a _thing_. A wordless, paperless contract was signed that guaranteed that whenever Foggy was on a trip without Matt, he would get him a tie. Matt agreed that, no matter what, he would wear it the next day. This was how he had worn up wearing a rubber ducky tie to court. Before the trial began, the lawyer representing the prosecution had made a snide comment, to which Foggy sneered and with a voice dripping with disgust responded, “The guy's blind dude, cut him some slack.”

Once the prosecution was out of earshot and out of sight, Foggy snickered slightly and whispered just loudly enough for Matt to hear across the room, “Oh my god, I'm so full of shit.”

Yeah, Matt had a hard time keeping a straight face upon hearing that one.

Oh, and the tie thing didn't go one way. Matt wasn't the only one suffering the fate of wearing something ridiculous. They had agreed to make it a more subtle thing, because Foggy really didn't have an excuse for his clothing choices, and in retaliation, whenever Matt went on vacation without Foggy (which was an even rarer occurrence than vice versa), he walked into the weirdest gift shop he could find, asked for the most ridiculous pair of socks they had, and immediately bought them for his friend.

It was a damn good thing that Matt had perfected the art of faking stoicism, because otherwise he would of cracked up in the middle of his closing statement as he heard Foggy ever so faintly whisper, “Juror thirteen is giving me the stink eye. I think she saw the socks. Thanks for going with the penis ones, by the way, really appreciate it.”

It was a blatant abuse of Foggy's knowledge of Matt's superpowers, and Matt wouldn't have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you wondering where Foggy got four hundred dinosaur stickers at three o'clock in the morning, I still maintain that he just kind of...had them. Like after he passed the bar exam and had a fancy internship and was actually sort of starting to be a real adult he just started buying dinosaur stickers whenever he came across some and kept them in a drawer until the perfect opportunity presented itself. And yes, covering his office in them as an ever so slightly passive aggressive but mostly genuinely amused and curious gesture at too damn early in the morning was the perfect opportunity.


End file.
